The Refinishing Touch Blog

Over recent blog posts we've been dedicating this space to the three R's: Reduce, Recycle and Reuse. Today we are looking specifically at 'Reduction', and would like to pay a special tribute to Virgin Atlantic.

Last month Virgin Atlantic carried out the world's first flight of a commercial aircraft powered with biofuel. "This breakthrough will help Virgin Atlantic to fly its planes using clean fuel sooner than expected," Sir Richard Branson, the airline's president, said before the Boeing 747 flew from London's Heathrow Airport to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. This pioneering flight was made possible with a biofuel mixture of coconut and babassu oil in one of its four main fuel tanks.

Although it is debatable how much positive impact this will actually have on carbon emissions, we applaud this development and Virgin Atlantic's ongoing commitment to endeavoring to reduce environmentally harmful waste. The airline has successfully reduced the waste it produces in all ground operations and continues to strive to reduce the waste it produces in the air. It has set ambitious goals to reduce the waste sent to landfills from its aircrafts by 50% by 2012.

Here at The Refinishing Touch we know it's the little things which really count towards the big picture and Virgin Atlantic is truly dedicated to waste reduction. In December 2008 it placed the largest order to date of the 27% more efficient Dreamliners in a bid to replace its ordinary gas guzzling planes. We just hope to see more airlines following in Virgin’s footsteps.

Labels: carbon emissions, Reduce, Virgin Atlantic

As a company we've always been involved in organizations and associations that drive change and communicate new processes. In line with this our Founder and President, Mario Insenga, has served as a Board member for the General Services Administration (GSA) Quality Partnership Council, a role which he has held for two years.

This week Mario travelled up to Capitol Hill in his capacity as acting chair so he could attend and MC the council's March meeting. The meeting sees GSA departments come together to discuss and collaborate on a range of activities from green initiatives to the Trade Agreements Act. He's come back to Georgia encouraged and motivated by the meetings, ideas and enthusiasm of everyone involved.

Mario also returned with a new award to add to The Refinishing Touch's collection: as on Wednesday, the GSA awarded him with an 'Outstanding Service Award' in recognition of his contribution.

We are thrilled with Mario's recognition by the GSA, (which is the second GSA award we've won!) and proud that The Refinishing Touch is reminding Washington of our core message: reduce, reuse and recycle.

Labels: government, GSA, Recycle, Reduce, Reuse

Here at the Refinishing Touch we live by the three Rs: Reduce, Recycle and Reuse. We applaud any company that supports and encourages consumers to think how to be more sustainable in their everyday lives.

So our sustainability hats off to Best Buy Inc. which has just stretched its electronics-recycling program to cover its 1,006 U.S. stores nationwide. The Richfield-based consumer-electronics retailer began testing this initiative across eight states last June. In February it expanded to cover 50 states, and Kelly Groehlerto, spokeswoman for the program, has stated the company plans to extend the plan into Puerto Rico.

How does it work? Customers simply bring their old electronics, including televisions and monitors up to 32 inches, desktop and notebook computers, small electronics, VCRs, DVD players and phones, as well as accessories such as keyboards, mice and remotes back to any Best Buy store in the US for recycling.

The company will be charging a $10 recycling fee for items with screens, including televisions, laptops and monitors. Though customers who bring those items will receive a $10 Best Buy gift card in exchange for the recycling fee. This charge is exempt in California and for all Best Buy store-branded products, such as Insignia, Dynex and VPR Matrix.

Here at The Refinishing Touch, we sincerely hope to see this trend continue to cover other consumer products. Simple ideas like this allow ordinary Americans to effortlessly incorporate recycling into their everyday lives.

Labels: Best Buy, electronics, Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, Sustainability